One Celebrity Gets Out of Here a Winner

NBC reality series concludes with one celeb winning cash for the charity of his or her choice

By Natalie Finn Jun 25, 2009 1:24 AMTags
I'm a Celebrity?Get Me Out of Here, Lou Diamond Phillips, Torrie Wilson, John SalleyPaul Drinkwater/NBC

Glory be, it's over.

It came down to the Young Gun, the lady wrestler and the retired basketball star for all the marbles on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! on Wednesday's finale.

All of the season-two contestants—minus comedy duo Frangela—returned to the Costa Rican jungle to lend their lecherous presence moral support to finalists Lou Diamond Phillips, Torrie Wilson and John Salley, who had managed to avoid the stomachaches, bug bites and lack of voter support that took their fellow castmates out of the game over the past four weeks.

And after one more round of rubbing elbows with snakes and taking a bucket of worms to the face, the grand prize (for charity) went to...

Still recognizable actor Lou Diamond Phillips!

The 47-year-old Hollywood veteran was declared King of the Jungle and will receive a check for his charity of choice, the Art Has Heart Foundation, which provides opportunities for underprivileged kids to receive instruction in the arts.

"This experience is head and shoulders and far to the left of anything I've ever done," said Phillips, who spent three weeks of the competition immune to being voted off, whether because he was camp leader or a challenge winner.

"No movie set ever compared to this—this is the real deal and it's been an amazing trip," he said. 

Not that he doesn't want his guest role on Numb3rs back.